Page 13 of Defending Our Ever After

I place my hand on her elbow to draw her attention back to me and sign, “Sara made it here with me from all the way across the state. We were hungry, dirty, wet, and exhausted. I can’t imagine how a little dirt on your finger could hurt her now.”

Trisha’s eyes widen and start to fill with tears. I didn’t tell her that in a bid for sympathy and don’t know how to deal with her reaction. I simply reach out to take my little girl back from Julia and hurry downstairs, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the narrow hallway.

As I prepare Sara’s bottle, I remind myself not to make a habit of running off from the gorgeous nurse I’m supposed to be translating for. Sitting down on the easy chair near the fire, I hear Shelby’s laugh pour into the house when someone opens the back door and I find myself comparing the two women.

While Trisha is younger than us, she has that same determination and spark in her eyes that Shelby has always carried, even during the years that Jace made her doubt herself. I wonder if I’m seeing something that’s truly there or what I want to see.

Only time will tell, but once she gets settled in, I want her to check Sara thoroughly. It’s not that I don’t trust Elsbeth, but not being an actual medical professional, it’s possible that she missed something. I also am interested in finding out when Trisha lost her hearing. Not that I’m an expert, but my cousin’s speech was nowhere near as clear as Trisha’s is, so I’m nearly certain she wasn’t born deaf.

When the front door opens, Dale and Jace each squeeze through, their arms overladen with luggage and multiple boxes. The latter frowns at me, but I ignore the burden they’re shouldering, in favor of pulling a blanket from the couch to keep my little princess bundled up and snug before lifting her up to be burped.

“Trisha has more stuff in the truck, if anyone can help,” Jace loudly announces, in case I misunderstood his glare.

“Yeah, we packed up as much medical supplies as we could get our hands on—hoping it will be safer up here than down in town,” Dale tells us, explaining why a woman who flew in for a visit has more than enough for a year around the world.

“Dad,” Julia calls from the doorway that leads to the bedrooms. “Leave everything downstairs for now, that way there’ll be space when you guys switch rooms with Grandma and Rachel.”

“I thought she wasn’t coming for a while,” he grumbles, but I don’t miss him checking out her long legs and curvy ass.

“The colder it gets, the quicker things are deteriorating in town,” Dale responds. “After this, I’m going to the fishing cabin to pick up Steve and let him drop me off within walking distance of home. If I can pass off a decent story of my truck being stolen, I’m hoping people will stop wondering what else I have that they don’t.”

While Mike and Dale discuss various options, I carry Sara over to the bassinet near the fireplace and lay her swaddled body down.

“Uncle Eddie?” Enjoying the site of my daughter, well fed and warm, I was unaware of Julia coming up behind me and shoot her a dirty look for startling me. “Sorry. Will you come with us? I want to show Trisha the other buildings and main outhouse, it might be easier if you sign things for me.”

I nod, but stand unmoving, trying to figure out what the strange look in Julia’s eyes means.

Maybe nothing, maybe mayhem.

Sighing, I head back to the door and pull on my gear before motioning to Mike to keep an eye out for Sara. Rachel’s curled up in a recliner near the fire, pretending to read one of Elsbeth’s notebooks; I don’t think anyone else has noticed it’s upside down, nor that her eyes are half-mast. She’s actually been really helpful with Sara, so there’s no point in calling her out.

Trisha and I try to keep up with Julia, but Julia has overestimated my ability to sign and walk at the same time. Catching the amusement on Trisha’s face, I chuckle along with her before giving up on walking altogether. Standing halfway between the house and barn, I relay Julia’s words before deciding that the outhouse will be a quicker trip and motion to Trisha to follow me.

Looking over my shoulder, I see Julia watching us with a little smile on her face, before I yank open the door so Trisha can get the ins and outs of one of the many compost toilets on this property. She quickly ducks her head back out and I decide against explaining where the urine waste is emptied versus the solid waste. We don’t want her riding away with Dale, after all.

If she stays, she’ll find out soon enough.

“Julia said that her grandmother’s house is sitting empty right now,” Trisha says, studying my face. “Are there any plans to move into that?”

“Not before the spring.” I tell her, opting to spell out some words when I don’t remember the shorthand. “We don’t know what we’re in for this winter, so Mike thought it best to keep everyone close. He said something about not overharvesting trees for firewood, but honestly, I lost interest at the time between worrying about Sara and my chores, I decided to leave those details to the others.”

“I saw Julia calling youuncle, you must really mean a lot to them,” Trisha says, smiling up at me.

“Like I said, I’m Dylan’s godfather, sounclecame about as an honorary title and Shelby just encouraged it, I guess.” Relaying that, I acknowledge to myself that becoming a father has turned me into a softie.

While I loved the times spent with Jace’s family when they were kids, seeing them on the brink of adulthood and the fact that they still treat me like Iampart of their family fills me with pride. Not that I had much to do with how they turned out, but the feeling is there regardless.

“Jace is an only child and Shelby has a brother. Max was still active duty when this shit went down; no word from him since, of course.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said something that makes me want to burst into tears,” Trisha says, looking down and waving her hand in front of her eyes. “You being here must really comfort them. Whether or not their mother encouraged calling youuncle, Julia’s an adult and I don’t get the impression she’d do anything she didn’t want to. Oh, God, it’s probably close to that time of the month, I’m sorry. I don’t usually cry much at all.”

My eyes widen at that comment, but thankfully, she gets herself under control again and we catch up to where Julia’s waiting near the barn door.

“Did you make her cry?” Julia asks me, narrowing her eyes and fisting her hands on her hips.

“She’s sensitive. I just told her about Max,” I answer in my defense, leaving the rest of the story out.

“Not his fault at all,” Trisha pipes up, looking between us with a nervous smile on her face. “So, the barn. Will I actually have to do anything with animals? Can’t I stick to humans?”

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